Saturday, January 01, 2011

Secrets Lives of Beavers Filmed

Professor Mott and colleagues, Craig Bloomquist and Clayton Nielsen of Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, US have filmed the secret lives of American beavers (Castor canadensis) denning on the Mississippi flood plain in south-western Illinois. This is a piece of research that delves deeper in to the mysteries of the lives of Beavers. According to the scientists till now what we know about beavers and their use of dens is limited to questions like what times of day do they go in and out of the den.

The researchers put tiny, waterproof cameras into 17 lodges and six bank dens. The scientists found that the beavers exhibit regular patterns of behaviour, leaving to feed at roughly the same time every day. Male and female beavers appear to take equal responsibility for raising their babies. One of the most interesting finding was there was no aggression within beaver colonies. Most social animals that live in close-knit groups tend to use aggression to establish a "pecking order"